Some UIndy students say they feel left in the dark after homicide on campus
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Some students at the University of Indianapolis said Wednesday they were not made aware of a homicide on campus until the morning after it happened.
UIndy has about 4,100 students. Because the campus is small, students said they weren’t shielded from the scene or the heavy police presence. They just had no idea what was going on.
“I mean there was a crime scene going on. There were people coming out of Cory Bretz (residential hall) who probably saw the accident. There were the kids who actually found him,” said student Emily Sych.
Sych was afraid for her safety Tuesday night when police flooded her campus. Police said Dazmond Morgan, 26, who UIndy’s president said had no connection to the university, was found shot to death in a vehicle on campus. No arrests have been made in the shooting.
It’s something Sych said she wishes students were made aware of sooner.
“Normally, we get watchdog alerts, but they didn’t provide anything like that this time around and there was literally a shooting on campus,” Sych said.
Student Hunter Walden agrees and says, typically, there’s no shortage of safety warnings from the university. “I think it’s weird because we get a lot of car break-in alerts,” Walden said.
In the hours after the shooting, Walden said conversations on the school’s campus app also became concerning. “Most people again didn’t know what was going on. They just knew there was a shooting and then there was one employee that said there was just a medical emergency and then that comment got deleted.”
But, changes are comping to campus. The university’s president said the school will speed up the process of hiring four new university police officers.
Plainclothes patrols will begin on the edges of campus, and there are also plans to install high-definition security cameras around the university.
UIndy’s president said the security upgrades should be made within 30 days.
For Sych, the upgrades are a step in the right direction, but she said when it comes to student safety the palm of their hands is a good place to start.
“I think that will be a great thing, I think it will make other students feel safer but I just hope they remain consistent doing the watchdogs,” Sych said.
Both Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the UIndy police are investigating the shooting.
